A Tiny Almond in a Big World

“Hey, nerds.” Portia waved one of her paws, holding a bass in another. “Hey, nerd,” Almond replied, walking to her with Pass by his side. It had been weeks already since the classes started and Almond got to find some nice friends. Especially Pass, who was an amazing singer and kind of ok bass player. She wasn’t majoring in music, but she decided to choose some music classes and it was a good start for their friendship. “How was class? Boring as always?” Portia asked. Because my band practice was amazing, let me just go and talk about it. “Not really, all the music classes I chose are very fun.” Pass offered a smile. Almond tried not to laugh, the two would always politely try to bother each other, answer in a way they know the other wouldn’t appreciate. Pass was too polite to do it in any other way and of course Portia refused to stay behind in it. “Good for you. And how is your butt?” Portia offered a smile back. And Almond shot a not amused look to her. Some girl lit Pass on fire by mistake. Pass was fine, she only had some minor burns, but still, a thing very rude to mention. “It wasn’t on my butt, it was mostly my tail.” Pass sighed, defeated.

One point for Portia here, haha.

Almond wanted to shoot another look at Portia, but he also didn’t want to let her know that he was reading her mind. “But I’m fine, thanks for asking.” Pass didn’t even try to offer a smile. “Anyway, I just got out of band practice. We are totally going to play at that band contest next month!” Portia was clearly excited, she hadn’t talked about anything else since entering that band. Portia was Almond best friend, but she sure knew how to be insensitive. “Nice, did you guys finally come up with a name?” Almond adjusted his red hat. It was a bit too hot for a hat but what could he do. “Kinda. We are going with ‘No Name’ for now, because having real names are lame anyway.” We are so lame, we didn’t actually chose a name! I just had to made it up now to not look bad in front of her, ugh. “I better be going,” Pass decided to interrupt, receiving a dirty look from Portia. “My girlfriend is waiting me for lunch.” “You got a girlfriend?” Almond asked surprised, and repressed the urge to look at Pass’ mind. “And you said you had no news!” “She didn’t tell you?” Portia had one of her awful smiles out. “Remember that weird girl who lit Pass’ butt on fire? That’s her girlfriend.” “Ugh, of course you had to tell him in that way!” Pass rolled her eyes. “Don’t make that face, Almond. She’s nice, ok? And it was an accident, she didn’t mean to hurt me or anything!” “Look, I’m not judging.”

you, I’m judging only Portia this time.

Almond showed his paws in a placating gesture. “I admit I’m a bit worried about you, but I believe you can choose what’s best for you. I know it was an accident, and that’s why I’m not saying anything, for now. I hope she really is a nice gal, Pass.” “I appreciate your worry, but you’ll see! She’s amazing,” Pass said with a smile. That soon turned in a concerned expression as she looked at the wall clock. “I’m late, I’ll talk to you guys later.” “Yeah, good lunch!” Almond waved his goodbye, and turned to Portia as soon as Pass went out of view. “Did you really need to do it?” “Sorry, I just thought you should know.” Portia shrugged. She was the one who started it anyway. “Don’t be mean to Pass, she’s nice.” Portia shrugged again. Whatever, I’m way better than her anyway. “And we are starting a band together.” “What?!” Portia dropped her bass with the surprise, soon catching it back again. You didn’t start a band with me and you’re going to start with her?! “Portia, you never wanted to start a band with me, it’s not fair.” Before Portia could protest, Almond continued: “And you can enter our band whenever you want. We aren’t excluding you from this.” “Fine, it’s not like I would want to get in a band with some nobody anyway.” Portia crossed her arms, starting to pout. “If you change your mind, our bass position will always be open.” Portia shrugged. “And do you want to go grab lunch or what?” “Yeah, I’m starving.” Portia sighed. “And stop being nice to me when I’m being a jerk. You ruin all the fun of it, Almond.”

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“Nice, when do you think we can start, Almond?” Pass asked, barely containing her excitement. They found a drummer for their band, so it meant they had almost something like an actual band. Their drummer was some older gray cat who didn’t seem as excited as them, but it was better than nothing. “He said he would be free this weekend, so what do you think?” Almond couldn’t lie, he was excited too. Even if they weren’t such a real band. Pass could sing and play the bass, and he could play the guitar and also do back vocals. So a drummer did close what they needed. “Perfect, Mari is going to travel this weekend, so I wouldn’t have anything better to do anyway.” Pass gave a smile, that soon faded as she saw Portia waiting for them. “Hello, Portia.” “Hello, Passarinha.” Oh, no, shit, I was supposed to be actually nice. “Look, about the other day, I’m sorry or something for being awful.” Pass and Almond gave surprised looks to Portia. That was probably the closest of nice Portia had ever been to Pass. This was probably the best she could do with someone she didn’t like. “It’s fine, I didn’t mind.” Pass offered a polite smile. “Alright, what do you want? Why are you being nice?” Almond squinted his eyes. Shit, why does he always know. “Geez, I’m sorry, I’ll be back to be awful if you hate it so much!” Portia threw up her front paws in a dramatic gesture. “No, no, you can keep up with it.” Pass reassured with an amused smile. “Now tell us what you want, we aren’t going to judge you,” Almond said, approaching the hairless cat. “Ok, fine, I was just like wondering if I could enter your band or something.” Almond gave a suspicious look and Portia sighed. “My band is awful and I hate them.” They expelled me from the band! They are such jerks, I’m way better than all 4 of them together. Almond couldn’t help but soften up a bit. He knew how badly Portia handled rejection. “Of course, Portia. How could we say no to someone so good at playing bass?” Pass didn’t seem as convinced, but just shrugged anyway. “At least now we will look like a band, right?” “With me you guys will look like the best band in town.” Portia flashed a white smile.

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“Oh my god, Portia! Did you really need to do it?!” Almond groaned, as she watched Mika leave their practice. “That’s what? The fifth drummer we lose because of snarky comments?” Pass sighed, sitting down at the ground. “Hey, this time it wasn’t my fault! C’mon, Fudge, she made fun of my lack of fur.” Portia sounded so wounded that even Pass shot a sympathetic look. Almond resisted the urge to smile at the nickname she used. “And you made fun of every bit of her.” Almond took a deep breath. “But yeah, I agree, she’s a jerk.” “I’m glad she left, she was very annoying,” Pass confided. “But the contest is next weekend and we do need a drummer.” “Guys, don’t worry, I’ll fix it up,” Portia assured. Almond and Pass just looked at her, clearly not convinced. “I swear this time it will work out. I know a nice gal who I bet I can convince to help us out.”

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Almond threw himself on his bed with a loud sigh. He took out his green and yellow hat, looking at it. It didn’t take long for Almond to get up and look at the mirror, the one in between his bed and Portia’s. He touched his horn, another loud sigh leaving his mouth. “What’s up, Fudge? What’s so interesting about your horn?” Portia tried to joke, but her look showed how worried she was. Who made fun of you? Who do I need to beat up? “People are commenting about my hat, that’s all.” Almond tried to shrug it off. “What are they saying?” Portia’s eyes narrowed. Just tell me who needs to go and I’ll take care of it, I swear. “It’s nothing really, nevermind.” Almond sat at his bed, still touching his horn. The hell it’s nothing. Don’t lie to me, Fudge. “Ugh, they aren’t being like mean or anything. It’s just that….” Almond sighed again. “Some people think I’m faking some disease or something to make myself look special. They think I have just common antennae and I’m just trying to get attention.” “Tell me names and I’m going to beat the hell out of them,” Portia stated in a menacing voice. “Look, it’s fine. There’s nothing I can do anyway.” Almond shrugged, soon laying down. “Maybe….” Portia started, making Almond raise his head. “Maybe there’s something we can do to make people shut up. But it can be a bit risky.” Almond felt tempted to just look at Portia’s mind but if she wanted to talk, he would let her talk. “You’ve got me interested, tell me.” “Well, if you told everyone that you didn’t have antennae and showed up with a fake horn in the band contest, I bet no one would question your hats anymore.” Portia winked, a bit too excited. “I’m not sure if I’m following, Portia. How do I put a fake horn with a real horn in the way?” Almond said skeptical. “And they may just think it’s a real horn, what doesn’t help much.” “C’mon, Fudge, just look at my mind and you will see it!” Almond hesitated a bit. Well, it was Portia who asked for it, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right? Almond slowly reached for Portia’s mind. He saw their band on a stage. Portia was almost at the center, looking way more badass than she ever would be. Pass was in the middle, looking cooler than how Portia actually saw her. And by Pass’ side was Almond, his horn very evident, with two strings attached at horn’s base and knotted together at Almond’s chin. It did look like he was with a fake horn. It wasn’t a bad idea, not at all. Almond tuned Portia’s mind out right when the crowd was chanting his name and Portia’s. Almond couldn’t help but smile. “Fine, maybe it could work-” “So shut up before you can say something like ‘but we shouldn’t do it because whatever’. Leave it to me and I’ll take care of everything,” Portia finished, with a big smile. “And unicorn cats are so impossible to happen that no one would think the horn is real. So don’t worry!” Almond just rolled his eyes, but felt fuzzy on the inside. It was nice to know that Portia had his back.

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Almond was nervous. Too nervous. No, not Almond, my stage name is Fudge! But still, Fudge or Almond, she was very nervous. It was their first real contest, and they could (maybe) win and open a real show. Fudge adjusted the straws on her horn. She just hoped it actually looked like a fake horn. “Is everyone ready there?” Fudge asked, looking at the three others band members. “I was born ready,” Tyla replied. She was their new new drummer. One that Portia managed to not send away, she was in one of Portia’s classes (probably) and they didn’t seem to hate each other. A bonus point, certainly. “If I’m looking rad enough, I’m sure I’m ready.” Portia flashed a smile, and Pass only rolled her eyes to it. “You always look lame, sorry, Portia.” Fudge laughed, making Portia show her tongue. “I’m a bit nervous, but ready to go,” Pass said, giving a look to Fudge’s horn. “If you can manage to not tear away your fake horn, I mean.” That I know it’s not actually fake. “Ugh, I’m just nervous,” Fudge complained, finally stopping to mess with the straws. “Another girl band?” a black and blue cat said in a complaining tone, approaching them. He had a clipboard and a pen, he seemed to be the one sending the bands to play. “God, I wish, girl bands are so rad,” Portia said. And I bet any of them play way better than you. “I mean, when Almond is a girl we are a girl band,” Pass chimed in. “Didn’t Almond say she was a girl today?” Tyla asked. “Almond, are you girl today? Please, say yes, I always wanted to play an official show on a girl band,” Portia said, and her mind screamed soon after: And show this jerk how amazing a girl band can be. “Yeah, I’m feeling like a girl today, let’s be the coolest girl band on this contest.” Fudge smiled. And soon smiled even wider upon hearing the black and blue cat’s complaining thoughts. Looks like he doesn’t like too much when we find amazing being called a girl.

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“C’mon, guys, it’s fine. We got third place, and there were so many amazing bands!” Pass tried to cheer them up, without much success. “The first band was that amazing punk rock girl band. It would be hard to beat them!” Tyla had already gone, she was only doing a favor to drummer-less band anyway. Fudge

Or maybe I just should keep being called Almond. What serves a stage name if you can’t even be on stage?

was feeling devastated. She had tried so hard, but it wasn’t enough. The only good thing that came from the show was that everyone had bought her antennae-less story. And Fudge was sure of it, every mind she looked at had thought the same. At least Portia’s idea was indeed good. “We are a failure! All the other bands were so lame! And we still lost to two lame bands!” Portia complained. I messed up so bad at the bass, it’s so my fault we are lame. Fudge should just kick me out of the band, I bet they could get a better bass player and even a drummer that wouldn’t run away every couple weeks. Fudge sighed. “Look, we aren’t lame or failures or anything like that, we just need to practice more, that’s all.” “But we practiced so much!” Portia retorted. And we could have practiced more if I didn’t fight with all the drummers, ugh. It’s all my fault. “We just need to find a drummer who gets along with everyone here, and things will go well, I’m sure!” Fudge said, and Pass soon nodded in agreement. “We can make it work for next time!” Pass said cheerfully. “Fine.” Portia stood up, stretching a little. “But let’s rest a bit, I’m dying for a nap.”

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But it didn’t actually work next time. It was hard to find a good drummer, very hard. Soon, Pass was going to graduate, she would be an official veterinarian. Everyone was proud of her, even if Portia would rather die than admit it. And then Pass moved out to Aldora. It was hard to find one member, two was almost impossible. The band dream didn’t go far. Soon enough it was Almond and Portia’s time to get their diplomas. It was nice, it was fun, a good party with some kisses (even if Almond could tell that some of them were out of pity for the mothcat without antennae), but in the end it was nice to both of them. But everyone had to keep going with their lives, and that usually meant going in separate ways. Portia went too to Aldora, back to her family. Almond kept writing to both of them, but still it wasn’t the same. And it was indeed a bit lonely. But what could anyone do anyway?